USS Ross leaves for new home port in Spain

Jun. 3, 2014 - 08:27PM
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The guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (seen here in 2008) is relocating to Rota, Spain, under a NATO ballistic missile defense plan. By the end of next year, four destroyers equipped with the sophisticated Aegis radar system will have relocated to Spain. (MCS Ryan Steinhour/Navy)

NORFOLK, VIRGINIA — A U.S. warship thatís capable of shooting down ballistic missiles has started its voyage to its new home port in Spain.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Ross left Virginiaís Naval Station Norfolk on Tuesday. Itís the second American ship to relocate to Rota, Spain, under a NATO ballistic missile defense plan. By the end of next year, four destroyers equipped with the sophisticated Aegis radar system will have relocated to Spain.

The ships are being forward deployed as part of the Obama administrationís plan to put land- and sea-based radars and interceptors in several European locations over the next decade. Since 2011, the U.S. has been rotating ships equipped with the radar system in and out of Europe from bases in Virginia and Florida.